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THE BIBLE (history channel special) *non religious discussion*

Hey guys, I caught a bit of the history channels "the bible" mini series they have been doing, and it was pretty freaking cool. just from a development, production standpoint. My wife has been watching the whole thing, and tells me it is pretty good. Just wanted to know if anyone has been watching it and what they think about it. This is not a thread to talk about the religious side of it. I am just curious from a "movie" making stand point. I have always thought that whether the bible was all REAL or not, it has some INCREDIBLE stories, and really cool concepts from a creative stand point. Have any of you guys been watching this? and what do you think?

I didn't hear about it till recently, I have wanted to watch something that told the stories and wasn't concerned with trying to tell the 'real story.' and it sounded like this did that more than any of the ones in the past have done, it stuck to telling the story as it was originally presented.

One Gum Drop to rule them all, One Gum Drop to find them,
One Gum Drop to bring them all and in the sweetness bind them
In the Land of Candy where the Gingerbreads lie.
-Tag line for the Candy Land Movie Adaptation

Haven't seen it yet, but glad to hear that people enjoyed it so it may be something I pick up on DVD or Blu-Ray, whichever they put it out on. I remember taking a class in seminary on contemporary media portraits of Jesus. It was a lot of fun.

"Cursed be the ground for our sake. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for us. For out of the ground we were taken, for the dust we are... and to the dust we shall return."
- The Book of Eli

I just always thought that the book itself was full of crazy creative ideas that would make good movies in themselves. it surprised me that outside of the passion movie, this sort of thing hasnt been done yet. I watched from the cruxifiction to the end, and it was really well done. i thought that costumes, makeup, city scapes and everthing looked really realistic. the actor that portrayed Paul was good as well. I think they took out that his name was originally saul as not to confuse viewers.

I just always thought that the book itself was full of crazy creative ideas that would make good movies in themselves. it surprised me that outside of the passion movie, this sort of thing hasnt been done yet. I watched from the cruxifiction to the end, and it was really well done. i thought that costumes, makeup, city scapes and everthing looked really realistic. the actor that portrayed Paul was good as well. I think they took out that his name was originally saul as not to confuse viewers.

Well in part its because a lot of people cannot separate being religious from the stories, so often they are too preachy or too religiously themed and that turns people who are not of the same faith off.

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Part of my problem is often the acting is meh or the direction is lets make this as boring as possible. I used to like trying to watch a lot of the stuff on channels like Discovery and History channel but they tend to go the exact opposite of the more religious versions of the stories.

One Gum Drop to rule them all, One Gum Drop to find them,
One Gum Drop to bring them all and in the sweetness bind them
In the Land of Candy where the Gingerbreads lie.
-Tag line for the Candy Land Movie Adaptation

"Cursed be the ground for our sake. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for us. For out of the ground we were taken, for the dust we are... and to the dust we shall return."
- The Book of Eli

I've seen episodes 1,2, and 4. There must have been an error with my DVR at some point because part 3 didn't get recorded. I haven't gotten to episode 5 yet.

Things I particularly liked:

- The burning bush. Rather than just looking like a bush on fire it really looked supernatural. The fire itself didn't spread or behave the way fire naturally does.
- The arrogance of rulers. I thought that Pharoah and Pontius Pilate were particularly handled well. And the displays of arrogance weren't one sided as even David's arrogance was well displayed. These guys really played the part of being in a position far above their subjects.
- Samson. I don't care what the skin color of the actor playing him was. That guy was huge and powerful. Out of all the fight scenes, Samson's were the ones that made me cringe the most. It's one thing to be slayed by the sword or shot with arrows, but to be pummeled by such brute strength is something else entirely.
- Why Jesus was arrested and sentenced. Movies depicting Jesus tend to be confusing to people who are unfamiliar with the Bible because they don't do a good job of showing why Jesus was arrested and sentenced. This series did a good job of portraying the Pharisee's plot to arrest him.

Despite some minor discrepancies, I think what the show did right far exceeds what it did wrong. My biggest complaint is that so much had to be rushed to fit it into 5 2 hour parts. I would have loved to have seen this as a 20-30 part series going all the way through.

"There's only one Master of the Universe and it's He-Man." - Stephen Colbert

"The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing." - Blaise Pascal

Despite some minor discrepancies, I think what the show did right far exceeds what it did wrong. My biggest complaint is that so much had to be rushed to fit it into 5 2 hour parts. I would have loved to have seen this as a 20-30 part series going all the way through.

I agree that even though it was a 5-part 2-hour series (10 hours), there could have been A LOT more included...as it seemed rushed at times. I think an 8-10 part 2-hour series (16-20 hours) would have been better, but that is only a small complaint. Because I LOVED it!

my wife liked a point that was sort of an interpretation. It had to do with david, and he was doing something (before he wrote the psalms) and he was reciting one under his breath.... and she was like, "that is really cool, because sure he didnt "write" it yet, but how many times do you pray, sing, or think of a phrase and then think, i should write that down" so for her that was really cool. cause yeah, then when he gets the money/kingdom stuff he probably remembered alot of things God told him, so he then recorded it.

Taking the text at face value the writing of songs, prayers etc I have often wondered if it was something just done on the spot or there was preparation before hand.

Apocalyptic literature (doesn't mean what most people think it does), is an interesting issue. The last part of the Book of Daniel does the same thing as Revelation, which interestingly both times the religion was under heavy persecution and openly proclaiming it would result in death. This is why it's hard to tell if/when things are being symbolic and if/when they aren't. Revelation is made harder, because John isn't known for writing in a linear fashion (assuming same John as the writer).

One of the things I picked up and still hold to this day from my New Testament studies is that when someone says they fully understand the book of Revelation you should raise an eyebrow. This was why in the survey most of the professors spent one day on the subject at the end of the semester. Also the book tends to be scenic, with very few actual characters in it.

I am a bit more excited about watching this though, I don't mind extrapolations on the text like the ones that have been mentioned. I watched a 'documentary' on I think the History channel about the Israelites and their warfare. During the siege of Jericho they made it sound like the red cord that Rahab hung out the window was used to allow soldiers into the window while they circled. I have no problem with it being a possible interpretation of the events but they made it sound like that's what happened, the text doesn't allow for that to be the case though.

Last edited by wyldman11; April 2, 2013 at 11:46am.

One Gum Drop to rule them all, One Gum Drop to find them,
One Gum Drop to bring them all and in the sweetness bind them
In the Land of Candy where the Gingerbreads lie.
-Tag line for the Candy Land Movie Adaptation

There are a lot of characters in the Bible whose stories would make entertaining movies. Many of the major ones like Moses, David, and Jesus already have a lot of movies about them, but characters like Gideon or Samuel don't get a whole lot of media attention. Heck, even Samson gets a fair amount for no more than he is actually featured in the Biblical narrative. How about a movie about Timothy? His story could highlight a lot of the First Century context, although it might be a bit short on the exciting supernatural elements. How about Ruth? That's a pretty interesting story too.

"Cursed be the ground for our sake. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for us. For out of the ground we were taken, for the dust we are... and to the dust we shall return."
- The Book of Eli

I've seen episodes 1,2, and 4. There must have been an error with my DVR at some point because part 3 didn't get recorded. I haven't gotten to episode 5 yet.

Things I particularly liked:

- The burning bush. Rather than just looking like a bush on fire it really looked supernatural. The fire itself didn't spread or behave the way fire naturally does.
- The arrogance of rulers. I thought that Pharoah and Pontius Pilate were particularly handled well. And the displays of arrogance weren't one sided as even David's arrogance was well displayed. These guys really played the part of being in a position far above their subjects.
- Samson. I don't care what the skin color of the actor playing him was. That guy was huge and powerful. Out of all the fight scenes, Samson's were the ones that made me cringe the most. It's one thing to be slayed by the sword or shot with arrows, but to be pummeled by such brute strength is something else entirely.
- Why Jesus was arrested and sentenced. Movies depicting Jesus tend to be confusing to people who are unfamiliar with the Bible because they don't do a good job of showing why Jesus was arrested and sentenced. This series did a good job of portraying the Pharisee's plot to arrest him.

Despite some minor discrepancies, I think what the show did right far exceeds what it did wrong. My biggest complaint is that so much had to be rushed to fit it into 5 2 hour parts. I would have loved to have seen this as a 20-30 part series going all the way through.

haven;t watched it yet, but I will, I did see they made Samson a black guy, i LOVED that. Rastafarians took some of their ideals from Samson so it was cool to see him as a 'rasta'. what was funny to me was he was from Game of thrones, same with another guy in the same episode (the guy who is Tyrion's 'body guard' )

There are a lot of characters in the Bible whose stories would make entertaining movies. Many of the major ones like Moses, David, and Jesus already have a lot of movies about them, but characters like Gideon or Samuel don't get a whole lot of media attention. Heck, even Samson gets a fair amount for no more than he is actually featured in the Biblical narrative. How about a movie about Timothy? His story could highlight a lot of the First Century context, although it might be a bit short on the exciting supernatural elements. How about Ruth? That's a pretty interesting story too.

The entire book of Judges would make a good miniseries. I mean the book starts with a guy so fat that the handle of a sword is swallowed by his fat, and his men thought he was taking a poop when he was actually dead.

Elijah would make a great story also. Esther also as would several of the other prophets. I know veggietales etc have covered many of the stories but they are very much Disneyfied.

also a lot of stuff that's really cool gets skimmed over, before David fight Goliath he tells how he would fight off bears and lions with nothing but a club while grabbing them by their chin. He also cuts off Goliaths head with his own sword. People also tend to not realize that Uriah (Bathsheba's husband) was one of David's mighty men who most likely were the ones with him when he was fleeing from Saul, and most of whom would make great spin off stories. There's the stories of Saul's son, how disobeys an order without knowing it, who goes with his shield bearer around some Phlistines and kills a few dozen because they think the Israelite army is behind them.

I mean He-man is the temple's music minister. But really there are a lot of really cool stories, that people often miss because they get too caught up in the shall and shall nots, and the begats which honestly take up a small portion of the narrative as a whole.

One Gum Drop to rule them all, One Gum Drop to find them,
One Gum Drop to bring them all and in the sweetness bind them
In the Land of Candy where the Gingerbreads lie.
-Tag line for the Candy Land Movie Adaptation

There have been some really good adaptations of Esther. I enjoyed One Night With The King for example, but it was a little embellished from the source material. I agree that Judges would make an interesting mini-series in and of itself. It has a lot of cool characters that we don't hear a lot about. The book of Daniel is another that would be interesting - a lot more going on there than just Daniel's apocalyptic visions, which might be a bit hard to do justice to. But the stuff in the Babylonian court could make an interesting movie.

"Cursed be the ground for our sake. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for us. For out of the ground we were taken, for the dust we are... and to the dust we shall return."
- The Book of Eli

I have written a cool movie outline for a trilogy called men of valor. the middle movie would be davids mighty men. first would be boy david, and last would be older king..... its a pretty cool outline.